Mozambique News Online (21) - 5/25/98

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In this edition:
Feature:
'ADOPT-A-MINEFIELD'
Stories:
1. RENAMO APPEALS TO EU TO NOT SUPPPORT 'FARCE' OF
LOCAL ELECTIONS
2. GOVERNMENT NO TO POLITICAL INTERFERENCE
3. SENA RAILWAY ONCE MORE TO CARRY MOATIZE COAL
4. NEW METHOD BEING TESTED TO FIGHT RED GRASSHOPPER
PLAGUE
5. MOZAMBIQUE TO ACHIEVE FOOD STOCK STABILITY - MINISTRY
OF AGRICULTURE
6. LIBOMBOS EXPRESS
7. JAPAN FINANCES DREDGER FOR PORT OF BEIRA
8. CHINESE BUSINESSMEN SHOW INVESTMENT INTEREST

Feature:

'ADOPT-A-MINEFIELD'

"Hokoyo Chimbambaira"; here and there. The
area is covered with these words. It is a warning for
people about the existence of landmines in the fields.
Thousands of square meters are marked and about forty
members of the landmines clearing crew are busy.Each
one in his specific area.

This is Moamba district in the southern province of
Maputo. In the past, Moamba was the main supplier of
maize, potatoes and vegetables to the city of Maputo.
Now the district needs external food aid because agricultural
activity is reduced to small areas. All due to the
landmines laid during the civil war.

The chief team adviser, Joaquim Almeida, says that the
main objective of the job is to make the area free
of landmines, to create conditions for the safe return
of people to their original homes, and to enable them
to work in their fields again without fear.

The number of landmines existing in the area is unknown,
but under the programme which began in Moamba in 1995,
about four thousand landmines and other devices have
been deactivated. The programme has so far spent about
US$2.6 million, says Osorio Mateus, the National Coordinator
of the Demining Programme.

"The activity is part of Government efforts to
ensure the safe return of people to their places of
origin and also to allow them to resume socio-economic
activities, including agriculture," Mateus said.
He said that in the Moamba district there are three
teams working using different methods. Manual, mechanical
and dogs.

One team is clearing the five kilometres ring surrounding
the town of Moamba. The second, combining mechanical
and manual methods, has as its work the clearing of
the area where power lines are situate,and the third
concentrates its efforts in the agricultural area of
Sabie, some 40 km from Moamba town. About 160 hectares
of farming land in Sabie are now free of landmines
and ready to be distributed to both private and family
farmers.

"We are happy with the work being carried out here.
The conclusion of the programme will not only put a
halt to accidents to people but also to animals,"
added Osorio Mateus

The coordinator of the programme announced that a new
project is to begin soon which is aimed at clearing
the power line area, from Komatiport at the border
with South Africa to Maputo city. A team of 200 men
is presently undergoing training to take part in the
project under the management of the French demining
company CIDEV. Osorio Mateus said the work on the power
line will take five to six months. He also said that
all the equipment to be used in the project is now
in place and that the project will be underway shortly.

Many organizations are participating by providing funds.
One of the operators involved is the United Nations
Demining Program. The organization, according to Osorio
Mateus, has promised to fund the project with an amount
of US$3.5 million.

Osorio Mateus says that about 60.000 landmines have
been deactivated countrywide since 1993 and said that
the annual rate is about 13.000 landmines. "It
is quite difficult to estimate the total number of
landmines and that is not important for us. Our major
preoccupation is to speed up the whole programme so
that the demining will not hinder the normal process
of economic and social recovery."

He considers the programme one of the government's great
challenges and sees the need in this challenge of combining
all the existing technologies. He said they intend
to use a maximum number of technologies which are in
use in other countries combined with others which are
only being tested, as well as those where their efficiency
has been proved.

A delegation from the United Nations Association of
the USA (UNA-USA), visited the country earlier this
month, under the UNA-USA's 'Adopt-A-Minefield' scheme.
The delegation visited two demining sites in Moamba
district. The objective was to collect information
about the demining process to enable the mission to
seek funds for new demining projects in the country.

A press release distributed by the US embassy in Maputo
during this visit indicated that the UNA-USA has developed
an innovative mine clearance and mine awareness initiative
in the 'Adopt-A-Minefield' programme. It is considered
a model of the kind of public-private partnership required
to eliminate the scourge of landmines around the world.
At the same time, the programme informs Americans about
the magnitude of the landmines problem.

Working with the United Nations, UNA-USA is seeking
national and international sponsors or parents to adopt
active minefields which have been pre-selected by the
UN. Sponsors will raise funds in their respective communities
to clear their adopted minefield and to return the
land back to the local inhabitants and for its then
productive use.

UNA-USA specifically designed the 'Adopt-A-Minefield'
programme to move beyond the political and policy debates
typically associated with banning the use of landmines.
The programme focuses specifically on the practical
tasks of helping to remove some of the 100 million
landmines around the world.

Stories:

1.RENAMO APPEALS TO EU TO NOT SUPPPORT 'FARCE' OF LOCAL
ELECTIONS

In a press release issued last week, Renamo, the major
opposition party in Mozambique, once again blamed the
Frelimo party for not giving attention to all "rightful"
concerns of Renamo on the procedures for the June local
elections.

Renamo launched an appeal to the national and international
community in order to persuade Frelimo to change its
position. "Otherwise it will widen the trench
of our differences and jeopardize the peaceful coexistence
achieved in 1992," the press release stated.

Dlakama's party launched another appeal to the European
Union, asking it to revise its position and not "continue
to support this farce which every citizen has already
recognized".

This is clearly linked with the recent EU declaration
on the continuation of their financial support for
the June local elections. The European Union declaration
came out about ten days ago, while the United States
of America has announced the withdrawal of their support,
particularly in the areas where Frelimo has no opposition
parties to compete with.

2.GOVERNMENT NO TO POLITICAL INTERFERENCE

Prime Minister, Dr. Pascoal Mocumbi, said recently that
the Mozambican government is against any kind of interference
in the country's democratization process.

Speaking on Friday 10 May at a weekly press briefing,
Dr. Mocumbi launched an appeal to the international
community and donors to recognise that the process
should not be interfered with.

This declaration by Mr. Mocumbi is linked with the recent
position stated by the US government that it would
not give the promised support to the local election
due to the fact that the majority of the opposition
parties, including Renamo, have said they would not
participate in the elections because of fraud in the
process.

3.SENA RAILWAY ONCE MORE TO CARRY MOATIZE COAL

The Moatize Basin in Tete Province now has around 3
billion tones of coal reserves and a potential of 15
billion tones in reserve coal.

However, since the period of the civil war, the coal
of Moatize is not being exploited though some years
ago this was one of Mozambique's main export products.
Unfortunately, the only viable way of moving the coal
to the port of Beira for export was via the Sena Railway
which was destroyed during the civil war.

Now, on a recent visit to Tete province, President Chissano
said that in the near future Moatize coal will be once
again be exported by the Sena Railway, after rehabilitation
of the line which is due to start next year.

It is estimated that about one million tones of coal
per year could be exported in this way.

4.NEW METHOD BEING TESTED TO FIGHT RED GRASSHOPPER PLAGUE

Mozambique is testing a new method of fighting the Red
Grasshopper.

The method uses a type of fungus called METHARRIZIUM
SP. The fungus does not have an adverse effect on the
environment, unlike that which occurs with chemical
products.

According to Sergio Gouveia, National Director for Agriculture,
the fungus takes aboutthree days to attack and destroy
the Red Grasshopper while the chemical products take
24 hours to do the same job. He said this meant they
would continue to use the chemical products, but give
more preference to biological methods such as the fungus.

Recently more than 40.000 hectares of crops were lost
at Sofal and Manica provinces due to the action of
the Red Grasshoppers in the area. Other provinces affected
were Tete, Niassa and Nampula.

According to the national authority for Africulture,
under the Ministry of Agriculture, Mozambique is set
to achieve food stock stability . Since 1993 there
has been a progressive increase in the security food
stock due to the good good harvests that have taken
place. With this scenario, government is trying to
spread the information to peasant farmers on new sustainable
techniques for food conservation. Sergio Gouveia, the
National Director for Agriculture, said that by doing
using these techniques,peasant farmers would be able
to manage their own food reserves and sell their surpluses.

Mozambique has achieved an average of 6% production
growth since 1993, creating conditions that make it
possible for many people to stop having to live on
donations.

Gouveia said that even with the El Nino phenomenon,
Mozambique has been realizing good agricultural results
since 1993 and that between 2000 and 2001 the country
would have achieved food security stability.

6.LIBOMBOS EXPRESS

Three cities in the Southern Africa region, namely Maputo
(Mozambique), Mpaka (Swaziland),and Durban (South Africa),
are now linked by a twice weekly train, the LIBOMBOS
EXPRESS ( known as Trans LUBOMBO, for in Swaziland
and South Africa.

The LIMBOMBO EXPRESS is the first railway passenger
service in southern Africa that links three countries
in the same day. Trade and tourism are expected to
benefit most from the service.

The LIMBOMBOS EXPRESS is a joint initiative by the three
countries and will operate for a period of six months
when it will be brought up for review as to its viability.

7.JAPAN FINANCES DREDGER FOR PORT OF BEIRA

Japan is to donate an estimated on US$15 million to
build a dredger for Beira's port.

Dr. Leonardo Simao, Mozambique's Minister for Foreign
Affairs and the Japanese ambassador to Maputo, Asao
Tsukahara, recently signed the agreement to build the
dredge. It is to be built in Japan and handed over
to the Mozambican authorities in 1999

The dredge will make possible the cleaning of Beira's
port, which is presently partially blocked. This will
make entry for large ships possible without having
to wait for high tide as is the case at present. Beira
port has the capacity to handle 2.6 million tones of
cargo per year but the last time it was cleaned was
in 1990. 8.CHINESE BUSINESSMEN SHOW INVESTMENT INTEREST

A group of Chinese business man who visited Mozambique
recently said they were 'strongly' interested in investing
in Mozambique.

At a meeting with President Chissano, they said that
they consider Mozambique a very good market with good
conditions in terms of economic potential.

During their stay, the Chinese business man opened the
Chinese Trade Centre in Maputo. This will serve the
whole southern Africa region.Dong Suwan, leader of
the Chinese businessmen, said that they were interested
in investing in areas like agriculture, housing and
textiles.

President Chissano recently visited Singapore, China
and Macau in order to invite Asian businessmen to invest
in Mozambique.